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Project Zero

Where It All Began

Project Zero—a fitting name, don’t you think? After all, zero indexing reigns supreme. Although, starting from project zero does pose a curious question: will I need to complete 119 projects to hit the magic CodeQuest118? A problem for future me to unravel.

This is where the journey began, and let me tell you—it’s been a wild ride.

Project Zero might seem small in the grand scheme, but every journey starts with a first step—one small win that sets the course for bigger things.

A Spark from the Gym

By day, I’m a part-time gymnastics coach (yes, an athletic nerd—shocking, I know). My athletes are incredible, hardworking, and inspiring. Me? I’m just here to encourage, support, and avoid cardio at all costs. A big part of competitive gymnastics is conditioning, and I quickly realized that HIIT workouts were a game-changer for their strength and endurance.

The challenge? Keeping workouts engaging. I was always hunting for fresh bodyweight exercises to keep things interesting.

And then it hit me:  

What if I wrote a script to generate random workouts? Something simple—a quick Python script to pull a subset of exercises from a list of predetermined exercises.

Screenshot of a Python script that generates random workout routines. The code includes a list of exercises and uses the random.sample method to select five exercises for a workout.

From Script to Webapp

But wait—why stop there? I’d never built a website before, and this felt like the perfect excuse to dive in.

  • What if I put the generator online?  
  • What if I made it unique—a daily HIIT challenge that united users around the world?  
  • What if it had built-in timers, customizable formats, and (of course) social media sharing options to spread the HIIT joy far and wide?

And just like that, HIIT Genius was born. 

Mobile screenshot of the HIIT Genius landing page, featuring a daily HIIT challenge with workout formats and a start button.

My first-ever, start-to-finish project. I bought a domain and everything! This was a huge milestone for me—a tool I built from scratch that actually worked.

Was it perfect? Absolutely not.  

Did it make me proud? 100%.

Lessons Learned (and Challenges)

The journey to building HIIT Genius wasn’t without its struggles. One word: UI design (oops... that's two words). If you’re a front-end developer, I salute you. Trying to create a mobile-first, responsive design that looked decent on every screen size was a nightmare. I wrestled with layouts, cursed CSS, and learned that “just make it look good” is easier said than done. The struggles with UI design and coding were frustrating at times, but they taught me more about patience and persistence than any workout ever could.

Here’s what I used to make it all happen:

  • HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend and logic
  • Netlify for deployment
  • Cloudflare for DNS and analytics
  • GitHub for version control

One ironic twist? Despite my efforts, I’ve since forgotten the intricacies of running the app locally. So, no recent updates—but hey, life’s a journey, and HIIT Genius will get my attention again soon enough.

Did It Go Viral?

Not yet—but we can dream, right? According to Cloudflare, HIIT Genius gets about 30 visitors a day. Are those real users or bots? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine.

The social sharing features haven’t caught on yet—if you’re reading this and want to try them out, please do! Who doesn’t want to earn a series of these awesome emoji streak symbols?

Mobile screenshot showing the HIIT Genius streak symbols legend, displaying different milestone emojis used to track workout streaks.

Maybe my dream of viral success isn’t so far-fetched after all.

What’s Next?

For now, HIIT Genius is on pause while I tackle other projects on my journey to the elusive 118th. But this project taught me so much—about coding, design, and the power of seeing an idea come to life.

Here’s the thing: HIIT Genius might seem like a small feat to others, but for me, it was huge. It was Project Zero, the first step that sparked me to start something—anything. Starting imperfectly doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re learning, experimenting, and taking action. By seeing this project through from start to finish, I gained the momentum to dive into new projects and embrace the messiness of the learning process. It’s the magic of small wins.

If you’ve got feedback, tips, or even just some encouragement, I’m all ears. Let’s keep chasing those zeros and ones, one project at a time.

Have you ever started a project imperfectly and learned something unexpected along the way?


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